In general, an air conditioner for an automobile includes an air conditioner system configured for circulating a refrigerant to heat or cool an internal of the automobile.
Such an air conditioner system which maintains a comfortable internal environment by keeping a temperature of the internal of the automobile at an appropriate range, regardless of an external temperature change, is configured to heat or cool the internal of the automobile by thermal energy-exchange by an evaporator while the refrigerant discharged by driving a compressor passes through a condenser, a receiver drier, an expansion valve, and the evaporator then circulates to the compressor again.
That is, in the air conditioner means, high-temperature high-pressure gaseous refrigerant compressed by the compressor is condensed through the condenser, and thereafter, evaporated in the evaporator through the receiver drier and the expansion valve to lower a temperature and humidity of the internal in a summer cooling mode.
In recent years, as interest in energy efficiency and environmental pollution problem has been increasing, there has been a demand for the development of environmentally friendly vehicles configured to substantially replace internal combustion engine vehicles. The environmentally friendly vehicles are usually fuel cells or electric vehicles driven by electricity or a hybrid vehicle driven by an engine and a battery.
Among the environmentally friendly vehicles, the electric vehicle and the hybrid vehicle do not use a separate heater unlike an air conditioner of a general vehicle and the air conditioner applied to the environmentally friendly vehicle is generally referred to as a heat pump system.
On the other hand, in the case of the electric vehicle, chemical reaction energy of oxygen and hydrogen is converted into electrical energy to generate a driving force. In the present process, since thermal energy is generated by the chemical reaction in the fuel cell, effectively removing the generated heat is essential for securing optimal performance of the fuel cell.
In addition, even in the hybrid vehicle, a motor is driven using electricity supplied from the fuel cell, or an electric battery, together with an engine that operates by general fuel combustion to generate the driving force, and as a result, the performance of the motor can be secured only by effectively removing the heat generated from the fuel cell or the battery and the motor.
As a result, in the hybrid vehicle or the electric vehicle in the related art, a battery cooling system needs to be separately formed with a separate sealing circuit together with a cooler device and the heat pump system to prevent excessive heat generation in the motor, electric components, and the battery including the fuel cell.
Accordingly, a size and a weight of a cooling module disposed in a front portion of the vehicle increase, and a layout of connection pipes that supply the refrigerant and the coolant to the heat pump system, the cooler, and the battery cooling system is complicated in an engine compartment.
Furthermore, the battery cooling system is separately provided, which warms up or cools the battery according to a status of the vehicle for the battery to provide optimal performance, and as a result, multiple valves for connection with the respective connection pipes are adopted and noise and vibration due to frequent opening and closing operations of the valves are transferred to the internal of the vehicle, degrading a ride comfort.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention, and therefore, it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.